Sour dough French bread is a special kind of bread having unique properties including its particular crustiness and sour taste. In the U.S. the true article is manufactured virtually only in the San Francisco Bay area. There the product has been produced continuously for over 100 years and commands a market estimated to be 15-20% of all bread consumed.
The bread made in the San Francisco area employs a process primarily dependent on the use of a starter or mother sponge which is in the form of a piece of heavy dough. The present invention employs this natural starter. The term natural refers to this form of starter which has been perpetuated in practical bakery use for over 100 years without going through the steps of extracting the active agents therefrom, growing them out in artificial media and then separating out the active agents and concentrating and stabilizing them for further use.
The present invention is designed to provide an improved starter which can be readily distributed to all other parts of the world so that the true sour dough French bread now available in San Francisco can be made available in these places.